As the frightened group struggled to leave this Hellish scene they found a 'ripping chisel' close to the body of young Cowan. The chisel did not appear to have been used in the murders. The Metropolitan and City police forces launched a joint operation to hunt down the anarchists and by the end of the year Peters and several others were in custody. Then, on the evening of 1st January 1911 a muffled figure slipped furtively into the City police headquarters at Old Jewry. Although never officially identified he is now known to have been Charles Perelman, former landlord to a number of Leesma members. Perelman had important information to impart. Two of the anarchists, Fritz Svaars and Josef Sokoloff were holed up in a second floor room at 100 Sidney Street. They were, he warned, armed with Mauser pistols.

Prior to 1974, however, it was a thriving fruit and vegetable market, albeit one with a seedy side. The murders and the murderer are analyzed by Thomas De Quincey in his famous essay On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts (1827). The murders and Charles Horton are featured in Lloyd Shepherd’s historical novel, The English Monster (2012). The murders are featured in Lona Manning’s historical novel, A Marriage of Attachment (2018). Investigations led to the identification of a German tailor named Franz Muller, who had attempted to pawn a gold watch chain belonging to Briggs. In excavating a trench last year in St. George’s-in-the-East, for the purpose of laying a main for the Commercial Gas Company, the workmen, at a depth of six feet from the surface, found the skeleton of a man with a stake driven through it. These remains were undoubtedly those of John Williams, in life greeted with a universal yell of loathing and execration.Also taken up was an ‘invalid boatswain,’ as the Oxford Journalreports. He had claimed that ‘seven men were employed to commit the murder by a near relative to the deceased,’ Timothy Marr, but upon being questioned he maintained that:

And even a month later, Bell’s Weekly Messengeron 19 January 1812 reports how‘The public mind continues naturally alive to every farther search and discovery respecting the late horrible murders.’ It appears that a principal witness, Mrs Vermilloe, the landlady of the Pear Tree, had been intimidated or threatened and also that she was convinced of the innocence of John Williams. To me, John Williams’ suicide speaks of his expectation of the outcome of any trial, irrespective of whether he was guilty or innocent. He took his own life rather than live through the ordeal that he knew lay ahead. What little clothing she was wearing was stained with curious marks, and a foam-like substance was to be found around her mouth.Despite the occasional imbalance in the flow, I think this book is perfect for those obsessed with the history of British Crime. Some of the material is probably familiar for the aficionado, but it will still be fun to revisit it. For someone just now developing an interest in British Crime, this book could serve as a crash course and give you lots of material to research and may send you off on a few deep dives for more detailed information. a chronometer; is jewelled in no end of holes ; is engine-turned, and to be sold, as a matter of philanthropy, for merely In the early hours of New Year’s Day, 1886, 41-year-old grocer Thomas Bartlett was found dead in his home in Pimlico. In the 19th century, the highway was lined either side with small shops, pubs, tenement buildings and narrow, dark alleyways. At night, the area was rife with vice and crime. ‘ Ratcliffe Highway‘ is a traditional song with lyrics containing a warning to any sailors who plan to go for a drink at an alehouse on Ratcliffe Highway. Exchange Buildings no longer exists, but standing at the junction of Houndsditch and Cutler Street you can still estimate its position.

For twelve succeeding days, under some groundless notion that the unknown murderer had quitted London, the panic which had convulsed the nightly Metropolis diffused itself all over the island. I was myself at that time nearly three hundred miles from London, but there, and everywhere, the panic was indescribable. The authorities strongly suspected a sailor named John Williams, who was supposed to have known Timothy Marr.

In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London

On 27 August 1887, the eccentric illustrated publication Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday published an article entitled ‘ The Ratcliff Highway Murders,’ describing how:

an expectant snap at every careless movement of thy restless limbs? Is Ezekiel Brown, of Gravel-lane, more merciful The rise of medical schools had created a demand for specimens, and the legal supply of executed criminals (the only bodies permitted to be used for the purpose) could not keep pace.The court finally declared Williams guilty of the crimes, taking his suicide as a clear statement of his guilt. The cases against other suspects collapsed and, although Williams had not previously been connected with the murders of the Marr family, he was deemed the sole perpetrator of both. Finally, here's a short video clip of Iain Sinclair discussing the murders in 1999 whilst wandering around St George in the East: The whole sorry tale had begun on December 7th, when draper Timothy Marr set about shutting up his business on Ratcliff Highway around midnight. Bishop and Williams also confessed to a string of additional crimes, whilst a Covent Garden porter, Michael Shields, was allowed to remain at liberty, based on the testimony of his co-conspirators that he had only been involved in deliveries, not murder.